As businesses grow, owners may increasingly rely on key employees and HR professionals to manage functions owners don’t directly oversee. Key employees and HR professionals are typically those employees who have access...
Employment Law Letter
At a public meeting on January 22, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted to rescind its Biden-era harassment guidance that identified persistent misgendering and/or limiting restroom access by...
It’s easy to make a technical mistake when conducting employment background checks, and you might think liability for that mistake disappears if you hire the candidate. No harm, no foul, right? Not according to the...
There have been more reported cases about employment arbitration than just about anything else in the field, seldom making new law. But the California Supreme Court has just taken the wheel to clarify whether a grossly...
New York City (NYC) has amended its Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) by expanding dramatically the benefits this local law provides to employees. Effective February 22, 2026, the amendments will allow safe/sick time...
Q An employee is requesting to use Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave to care for her brother, who’s in the hospital in critical care. He is not a service member, and she’s neither his caregiver nor in loco...
A study from employment and job search site Monster reports a sharp increase in the number of workers identifying a toxic culture in their workplace. The company’s 2025 Mental Health in the Workplace report, released...
How do your employees see their jobs? Are they working in what they consider a “quality job”? Or are they going to work every day to a less-than-satisfying role—or maybe even a job that feels like drudgery? A recent...
Christmas came early for one former employee when, on December 19, a Dallas jury awarded her a multimillion dollar verdict for a breach of an employment contract. Read on. Dem dry bones Andrea C. Avellan went to work at...
From pay transparency to remote work, employees are increasingly vocal about working conditions both in the office and online. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects employees—union and nonunion alike—when they...
In a new wave of lawsuits filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), four employers were sued during the recent holiday season for allegedly breaching ERISA fiduciary duties regarding their...
The flu is spreading like wildfire! So, is a flu-caused absence protected under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)? Calling out sick Here’s a typical scenario: Employee is off for four days. He calls in and says he...
Over the past year, I’ve responded to several “Notice of Payment Compliance Complaints” from the Industrial Commission of Arizona (ICA), the state agency responsible for enforcing Arizona wage payment compliance. These...
Here’s a case that presents retaliation basics in Texas. By basics, I mean what it is that you screen in looking for a way to dismiss a discrimination charge or a lawsuit. Let’s look at a few facts Kelli Smith worked as...
Words matter, and they matter a lot. As Mark Twain purportedly once said, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between a lightning bolt and a lightning bug.” So, I read with...